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Vent talks about his mental health struggles
#1

Part 1 of 2

David Vent plays hockey very physically and never stops chirping the other team. Off the ice, he has nice as he can be to anyone and everyone that he meets. Many people wouldn’t suspect that Vent suffers from depression and has been struggling with it ever since coming into the league. Vent doesn’t like to talk about himself and never really opens up to others on how he is doing. Vent has seen that not many athletes including hockey players open up about their mental health and wants to break that stigma. Vent decided he would open up and tell the world about his struggles with depression and self-doubt during his career as a hockey player.
Before the S46 draft Vent and his long-time friend and Czech teammate, Bernik Vrzala were working out together and talking about the upcoming draft.  The two were going back and forth talking about the top players going to be drafted and shooting the shit about others. Vrzala began talking about his own draft stock and how a bunch of teams had reached out to him. Vent was excited for his friend and always wanted to do well in sports and in life. Vrzala asked Vent how his interviews with teams went and Vent really had no answer. Hardly any GMs had talked to Vent let alone talked about drafting him. Vent had no idea if he even was going to get drafted. That started the self-doubt that maybe Vent wasn’t good enough for the league. All his training that he had put in would be for nothing and he would have to find a plan b. Vent decided to just say they went great and Vrzala thankfully dropped the subject.  During draft night Vent was at his friends Vrzala’s house watching the draft. While everyone was inside Vent was outside having a panic attack. He didn’t know what the future holds. He didn’t have the safety net of GMs saying where they would draft him or if they would draft him at all.  When Vrzala was drafted #26 overall Vent was the first to hug the guy. He put on a brave face for his teammate and friend and was generally happy for the guy.  As the picks went on and on and the night grew longer, Vent’s anxiety never wavered. Finally, at the 62nd pick Vent was drafted by the Kelowna Knights.
 
 Vent moved from the Czech Republic all the way to Kelowna, Canada. Vent did not know anyone of his team and was afraid that the language barrier he had would cause issues throughout his career there. When Vent first got to Kelowna, he had no idea what to do. This was a huge new step in life, and he needed to get a house and also begin training and meet his new teammates and meet management. Stepping off the plane Vent was greeted by general manager Zoone. He had only met the man once in his life and he didn’t even know the man knew his name. Zoone picked Vent up from the airport and drove Vent to the Knight’s offices to meet the crew and team that he would be joining for his career. Zoone tried to make small talk but Vent with his limited English vocabulary was unable to talk back or understand a lot of what Zoone was talking about. When they got to the office's Vent was able to meet some of the other prospects that were drafted.  Vent met Guy Zheng and Bobby Sharp and they both seemed very nice, but the language barrier was really not helping Vent.  The rest of the meeting went uneventful and Vent was then left to his own accord. Vent decided it was time to go find a place to live. He first started to rent an apartment while looking for a home. When Vent found a house, he liked he received help moving in from Vrzala and Jakub Novak who were visiting before the season started. When the pair left Vent was all alone in a country that he couldn’t even speak the language of.
 
S46 started off and Vent was trying to make a name of himself in any way he could. Vent was able to learn some English from Knights teammate Aleksandr Scherbak. Vent was making a name for himself for using his body and sticking up for his teammates even if they couldn’t really understand each other. However, Vent’s physical play came at a cost. By the end of the season Vent had totaled 88 penalty minutes in only 50 games. Management and his teammates were was less than happy. Vent was costing the team games because of having to go on the powerplay so often. It didn’t help Vent mentally seeing the other teams prospects and how they were playing great and he was playing horribly. The Knights were able to still secure third in the league but really Vent made no contribution to the season. Playoffs came around and the Knights were out in the first round.
 
Offseason came and the longer the offseason occurred it felt like the more Vent’s depression grew. Vent was living alone away from his family and friends and had really no one around him. Vent would often reflect on his season and hated how bad he played. Vent was so hard on himself on how he played and wouldn’t give himself the benefit of the doubt on saying it was his very first season in the league. Vent began to go to a very dark place and began to skip out on meals and would not reply to text messages sent from people.  Vent was eligible for the upcoming draft, but he believed he had zero chance on getting drafted by SHL team. Why would anyone want a defenseman who barely understood English, was third in the league for penalty minutes, and barely contributed on the ice. Vent knew he was headed down a dark path and he needed to get out of it. That’s when he made a phone call.

@goldenglutes @Zoone16 @Off @Esso2264 @Nerio @jjaybs

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#2

Love ya bro

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#3

Vent is Venting

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Thanks to @Carpy48 , @sköldpaddor, @Weretarantula, @Bruins10  and @Wasty  for sigs
Extra special thanks to @Julio Tokolosh for the sick gif one
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